Our Story

In 1969 Dan and Joe Regard acquired pecan orchards along the historic Cane River located in Louisiana’s central Natchitoches Parish. Originally the pecan orchards were planted, managed and owned by Jady Henry, Dan and Joe’s uncle. The Henry family was widely known as the owners of famed Melrose Plantation which included a huge working pecan farm, an historic plantation house, a nationally-known artist residency and home to Louisiana’s most famous folk artist – Clementine Hunter (1887-1987).

For many years Dan and Joe would farm their orchards and sell the bulk of the harvest directly to regional shellers who would then shell the pecans and sell the shelled pecans to local grocery stores, food service companies, ice cream and candy manufacturers as well as the gourmet pecan gift trade.

In 1982, Dan opened a small, seasonal, retail store on Front Street in downtown Natchitoches to sell the pecans direct from the orchard, the name of the store was Cane River Pecan Company. Later in the late 1980’s, Dan’s wife, Margie, would begin a business-to-business mail order division of the company, by the same name, from their hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana. The mail order company would grow over the years mainly on its reputation for offering the finest gourmet gift pecans on the market. Companies throughout the South embraced the idea of using her gourmet pecans as the ideal corporate gift.

For more than 45 years, the Regard Family has been involved in the pecan industry. Jady Regard, CNO of the Cane River Pecan Company, is the third-generation family member overseeing operations today.

From 1978 until 1989, Dan and Margie’s three very young sons (Danny, Jady & Andre) owned and operated a pecan cracking company in the garage of their childhood home in New Iberia called The Nutcrackers. The seasonal company catered to the sizable “yard crop” pecan market known to exist throughout South Louisiana. Using mechanical crackers, the Regard boys ran the successful company until the youngest brother headed to college.

Years later, in 2002, Dan and Margie’s middle son, Jady, left his corporate sales job with the Chicago Bears of the NFL, to return to Louisiana to navigate the company into the new millennium. Using his corporate executive background, Jady immediately embraced change by expanding the product line, introducing custom gifting services, enhancing the mail order catalog, initiating new digital marketing opportunities and fine tuning a national brand identity.

What has not changed are the family-ownership values and commitment to 100% customer satisfaction. Cane River Pecan Company has built a successful reputation by offering extraordinary pecans and pecan specialty products. However, its the genuine and sincere commitment to customer satisfaction that keeps our customers coming back again and again.

Thank you for allowing us to share our story with you. We hope you enjoy the pecans.